WVA NEWS

To
all Acharyas and Sannyasis of our member missions, along with all Vaishnavas,
my humble pranam dandavats.

On
the day before Rama Ekadasi, the Managerial Committee met at Vrinda
Kunja, Vrindavan. There was a good attendance at the meeting which lasted
for 3 ½ hours and concluded with kirtan and prasadam.

Items
on the agenda were as follows:

1.
The announced formation of the Inter Religious Affairs Committee which
will be headed by Bhaktiananda Goswami a disciple of A.C. Bhaktivedanta
Swami Prabhupada. The function of the committee will be to maintain
contact with world ecumenical councils and see to it that the WVA is
represented or invited to all world religious conventions/forums.

2.
The WVA gave formal recognition and extended an invitation to INRENA
- a European Vaishnava Charitable organization to become an affiliate
of the WVA. The invitation was accepted by their Vrindavan resident
representative from Germany, Sriman RadhaKrishna das. The organization
is engaged in water, education and clothing programs for the indigents
of Vrindavan. RadhaKrishna das will now become a member of the Vrindarvan
Dham Committee.

3.
The WVA also gave formal recognition to an organization of medical doctors
called Conscious Doctors. This organization was founded in South America
and wants to develop an International network of medical professionals
who adopt Vaishnava-friendly policies as a foundation for their medical
practice and also offer free treatment to Vaishnava Missionaries. Conscious
Doctors was started by an Indian woman Doctor in South America who in
addition to her western medical credentials is an Aryuvedic doctor and
trains South American physicians in Aryurvedic medicine.

4.
The meeting was also attended by the founder/director for the Florida
Vedic College, Sriman Mahabuddhi das. The Florida Vedic College is recognized
as a degree offering educational institution by the American government.
The FVC requested membership in the WVA and was granted such. A letter
of recognition was approved by the assembly to be presented to the FVC.
Sriman Mahabuddhi das informed all member missions how they could benefit
from degrees from FVC. For instance if a Vaishnava preacher from India
was to acquire a Masters or Doctoral degree in Divinity from FVC, then
this credential would greatly assist when people apply for visas to
travel and preach. It also opens the doors to Universities and educational
institutions to people wanting to teach Vaishnavism. There was some
discussion centered on helping second and third generation Vaishnavas
in Western countries attain credentials to assist them in their lives.
The Education Committee also wanted to inform everyone especially those
people involved in child education that they could avail of a huge library
of pictures of the pastimes of Lord Krishna and His devotees availible
on www.damodara.de The pictures are mostly black and white line art
and can be used to educate and entertain young children who can color
the pictures while learning about the pastimes.

5.
Bhaktisiddanta das from the Vedic Art committee made a presentation
and we learned something about the projects he has been involved in
and so tremendous plans that he has for Vrindavan. These centered around
the building of a new spiritual city on the outskirts of Vrindavan.
He is currently meeting with prominent people in India including the
Prime Minister for the purpose of furthering this mission.

6.
The Temple Adoption Committee lamented the recent destruction of an
important bhajan kutir at Imlitala . A motion was put forward that member
missions should please consult with the committee in the future before
undertaking demolition or major construction work. The committee could
seek help from Vaishnava engineers and architects to help preserve and
enhance the beauty of old structures of historical significance while
still helping with expansion of temple facilities.

7.
The Environmental Committee reported on the presence of a Hungarian
vaishnava water specialist in Vrindavan. The visiting specialist was
undertaking water testing of all major water bodies and the Yamuna river
to provide data on the current levels and types of pollution affecting
the holy dham. This would help in detecting the causes of pollution
and the formation of a plan to fix the current and lamentable pollution
of these holy sites. There was again a plea for the banning of all plastic
cups and utensils from the member mission Maths and at mahotsav celebrations
as this is a major source of pollution in and around Vrindavan and the
Yamuna. It was also agreed that the WVA should release a position of
the current state of cow slaughter in India. India has gained the deplorable
reputation as a country which treats its cows and other animal meant
for slaughter in an extremely inhumane manner. Many clothing and bag
manufacturing companies in America and Europe have boycotted the use
of animal products from India due to the massive scale of cruelty and
abuse of animals here. It was also reported how ashrams in Bengal (not
Gaudiya Math Ashrams) were taking donations of cows and then selling
them for slaughter across the boarder in Bangladesh.

8.
The Guru Vargha Dignity Committee once again pleaded for the submission
of philosophical articles and news from your missions or about your
Acharyas and mission activities, be submitted to VINA for publication
on the Internet. VINA is the official WVA Internet news site.

9.
Paramadwaiti Maharaj gave an account of the successful WVA Mela held
in Mexico this year.

10.
There was an updated report on the soon to be published book about the
WVA-VVRS, its historical roots, what it is today and a vision for its
future. We were also informed of the delay in the Audarya Awards presentations.

11.
Due to the poor level of communication that exists between the WVA and
its member missions and the difficulties and cost when relying on postal
mail services especially in India, there was a plea for all Maths to
get an email address and assign one of their members to the task of
being responsible for communication. This way they could more easily
be kept abreast of the news and information from the WVA and its member
missions.

12.
A report from the Press Committee updated everyone on developments with
regards to world media. The WVA recently sent a letter to the American
President George Bush objecting to the snub on Hinduism when he met
with religious leaders of Christian, Sikh, Muslim, and Buddhist communities
in American. The WVA is also undertaking a protest of the desecration
and the offensive use of the worlds largest Vishnu Temple - Angkor Wat
in Cambodia, in the film mega hit movie "Lara Croft - Tomb Raider".
In the movie released by Paramount Pictures, the carvings within the
temple of the Vanasena of Lord Rama and also Buddhist statues, turned
into demons which attack the stars of the movie, who in return destroy
the statues. It was pointed out that Hollywood's actions are in reality
no different than the recent destruction of the largest statue of Lord
Buddha in the world, by Taliban of Afghanistan.

13.
The subject of a need for an Indian Press Secretary was raised. Today
the use of media has become very essential if we are to get the message
of Lord Chaitanya out to the masses of people. We are witnessing the
rapid growth of materialism and consumerism in India and all its ills.
There is a need for an intelligent person/persons to be aware of what
is happening in India and look for opportunities to respond to malicious
anti vaishnava propaganda or to proactively preach vaishnava principals
in relation to real-world events. To this end the Secretary and Paramadwaiti
Maharaj recently approached the renowned investigative journalist Sriman
Vineet Narain. It was a very productive meeting with Mr. Narain offering
his cooperation and that of his organization for the purpose of the
promotion of Vaishnava principles through media in India. There will
be further communication between the parties for this purpose.

14.
The Managerial Committee approved a recommendation that all member missions
and individual Vaishnavas be approached for the solicitation of voluntary
contributions to help in the funding of the following projects; 1) the
printing of the WVA book, 2) the printing of our WVA poster, 3) for
WVA Mela and meeting expenses.

15.
WVA-VVRS flags were distributed to member missions to be displayed at
our Maths and temples. This was in line with the suggestion/request
from our Vice-President that all missions display the WVA banner/flag
and that the WVA logo be printed on all member mission literature. It
was also suggested that in the offering of pranamis all missions should
include "Vishva Vaishnava Raj Sabah Kijai".

16. In closing we prayed for the health of our current President Srila
Nayananda das Babaji who could not attend the meeting due to poor health.